Evolution theory must be taught

The state of Arkansas has taken a step back in time.\nA committee of the Arkansas House of Representatives approved legislation banning the evolution theory from textbooks. The bill now moves on to the full House for a vote.\nJust 20 years ago, the Arkansas state Legislature approved a similar piece of legislation that was ruled unconstitutional in federal courts.\nThe American Civil Liberties Union has already warned the state that it will pursue legal action if the bill passes the full legislature, citing the establishment clause -- the constitutional separation of church and state in the First Amendment.\nThis separation, about which Thomas Jefferson wrote so eloquently, is crucial to maintaining freedom of expression in the United States. When the Constitutional framers drew up the clause separating church and state, it was to prevent bills such as this from becoming laws.\nWhat happens to the atheist children, and children of religions that don't hold creationism to be true, in Arkansas classrooms, where they who are not being taught anything but creationism? What about those children who are being taught one thing at home by their parents, but learning a different religious lesson at school?\nThese issues are important and vital to maintaining all U.S. citizens' freedoms, but there is also another aspect to this dilemma:\nWhat about all the children who are missing out on a valuable scientific lesson? Even if the schools are not permitted to say with certainty that evolution is the way humans were created, the scientific research involved in the debate is a valuable one for any student of the sciences. Depriving students of this learning process hinders everyone.\nWhen it comes down to it, this is a separation of church and state issue. As Rita Sklar from the Arkansas ACLU asked, "Would anybody here pretend that this isn't about religion?" \nTo which Ark. Rep. Denny Altes replied, "Do you believe you were descended from a monkey? If we teach kids that they were descended from monkeys, don't you think they'll act like monkeys?" \nThe only one making a fool of itself in this case is the Arkansas house committee for thinking its bill will make it past any court challenge.\nStaff vote: 14 - 0 - 0\nyes - no - abstain